“What really makes us tick is using this passion for food to create an inclusive and empowering space for people marginalized in the community to gain training, work, and connection.”

Whole pumpkin salad with Meredith goat’s feta and red wine vinaigrette; Southern Victorian grass-fed lamb shank with local root vegetables; and grilled Victorian peaches and nectarines with heirloom tomatoes, coriander, cucumber, roasted almonds, and lemon vinaigrette.

Kinfolk is the kind of place that makes you feel better about grabbing your morning coffee and a toastie, or settling in for a longer lunch. Entirely staffed by volunteers and giving a hand to the disadvantaged to learn work skills, it channels 100 per cent of its profits towards worthy local and international charitable projects. The menu is largely vegetarian – a whole pumpkin approach sees the dehydrated skins, roasted seeds and flesh used in a lovely salad with Meredith goat’s feta and red wine vinaigrette. And just to make the feel-goods even fuzzier in this shabby-chic space at the bottom of Bourke Street, it’s sustainable right through to its recycled coffee grounds, biodegradable packaging, and nixed plastic straws. In more good news, Sibling by Kinfolk in North Carlton is on the drawing board.

“Staff at Kinfolk donate their time, and the café redirects its profits to local global development projects. Leave a good taste in your mouth? Wait'll you taste the grub.”

goodfood.com.au